Early summertime shark bites punctual warnings
A 12-year-old miss was airlifted from South Carolina's Hilton Head Island aft she was bitten by a shark, authorities said.
The miss was bitten successful the waters disconnected Hilton Head's Sea Pines connected Tuesday, authorities said. Hilton Head Island Fire Rescue said successful a connection she had sustained "a limb wounded accordant with lacerations typically associated with a shark bite."
"She has mislaid bully magnitude of humor truthful far," a archetypal responder said successful dispatch audio obtained by CBS News.
The preteen, who has not been identified, received on-scene attraction from Shore Beach Services and Fire Rescue personnel, past was airlifted to adjacent Savannah, Georgia, for aesculapian attention. Her injuries were not life-threatening, authorities said.
It's the 2nd clip a kid has sustained a shark wound successful caller days. Leah Lendel, 9, astir mislaid her manus aft being bitten by a shark adjacent Boca Grande connected Florida's westbound seashore connected June 11. Witnesses astatine the country said she was snorkeling erstwhile the incidental occurred.
Leah was airlifted to Tampa General Hospital, wherever she underwent intensive surgeries to reattach her hand. She spent respective days successful the intensive attraction unit.
"I didn't spot anything. I was conscionable snorkeling," Leah said successful a quality briefing Thursday. "I went up to breathe. And then, thing hard spot maine and tried to instrumentality maine away."
"Then I prime up my manus and is each successful blood," Leah added. "I commencement screaming with my mom."
Beachgoers said the attacks connected the 2 young girls are an unnerving commencement to the summer.
"It's benignant of nerve-racking, a small bit," Hilton Head visitant Naomi Vereb told CBS affiliate WTOC.
Unprovoked shark attacks are rare, but they bash happen, researchers say. In 2024, researchers from the International Shark Attack File, a database tally by the Florida Museum of Natural History and the University of Florida, investigated 88 alleged shark-human interactions astir the world. They confirmed 71 incidents progressive shark bites. Of those attacks, 47 were unprovoked, the researchers found. Four of the unprovoked attacks were fatal.
Kerry Breen is simply a quality exertion astatine CBSNews.com. A postgraduate of New York University's Arthur L. Carter School of Journalism, she antecedently worked astatine NBC News' TODAY Digital. She covers existent events, breaking quality and issues including substance use.